Why Are People Happy For Ukraine's Win Over Russia?

Five minutes before the round started Kateryna Lagno left her seat to talk to...

...GM Ruslan Scherbakov, her coach (I don't know if he still coaches her now, but earlier he did). There were no problems while they've been talking but once Lagno was approached by someone with the chess book trying to say something the Russian team guardians got nervous...

...hurrying to save Lagno.

And clever hands of Sergey Rublevsky quickly returned Lagno to her seat.

Other members of the team observed the scene.

Now it's alright!

The RCF president Andrey Filatov now can be spotted only near the tables of the Russian women's team. And he demonstratively does so never approaching men's team.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov walked around, sometimes greeting players. Here's how his handshake with Ponomariov looked like. First handshake after the elections.

A disastrous olympiad for Ivanchuk - today he lost in 26 moves against Mamaedyarov...

RCF continues signing the agreement on the tournament Belaya Ladya (White Rook). This time in FIDE president's presence and Batumi-2018 stand as a background.

* * *

The decisive minutes of Ukraine - Russia match.

Mikhail Brodsky walks quickly back and forth shooting glances at the left encounters on boards 2 and 4. The captain manages to hide excitement: Mariya Muzychuk's each move is supported with his nodding - he understands that Zhukova has winning position and a draw against Gunina is enough to win the match.

Both results have been signed almost simultaneously. And the hero of the match receives congratulations.

The Vice President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation was hardly the only person who met Ukrainian womens' victory over Russia with the reaction who can see on the photo.

That reminds me of Makarevich's not song but just a quote he said after Russia annexed Crimea, "...if all is so great, why is the world against it then?"

So I thought: why is everyone happy about one concrete result in one concrete match?

The closing ceremony started with a minute of silence. Immediately after Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with his usual readymade smile read the speech from the draft. No condolences, no words to sympathize with the dead chess player.